The Weight of Unraveling
by Jack E. Peace
Summary: When Ana approaches a difficult time in her life, Michael's desire to help might have the opposite effect (bad summary, sorry)


Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me.

A/N: It's been a while since I wrote a story for _Dawn of the Dead _but here I am again, with another story, this time centered around Ana and Michael instead of Terry and Nicole. I know, what a change. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this story and it's for Chase.

It was hard to spend everyday in the mall and not drive yourself crazy and Michael was slowly finding this fact out. He was sitting on the roof of Crossroads Mall, as he seemed to do most every afternoon when the sun was shining and the temperature was right, with the other members of their little survivalist's party, with the exception of Andre and his very pregnant wife, Luda. Ana was sitting in one of the lawn chairs they had taken from an outdoors store, flipping through a magazine and looking just as beautiful as she always did, if Michael did say so himself. Nicole, the youngest member of their little group, was sunbathing on a towel, with Terry on her one side and Monica sunbathing on her other; for once, the girl's weren't at each other's throats, enjoying a rare moment of peace and Michael was sure that was because Monica was asleep. Terry was trying to explain to Nicole just how important it was, when playing football, to kick the ball at exactly the right spot; it was obvious that the redhead didn't care less but was still listening with enough attention. Kenneth and Tucker were playing checkers, Steve was practicing his golf swing and Norma and Glenn were playing Go Fish. Everyone had something to do, besides himself that is.

And, because of this fact, Michael found himself extremely bored. He and Ana used spent their afternoon hours playing chess or talking but she seemed like she was more in the mood to be alone right now; it seemed like there was something bothering her but the one time he had asked her about it, she had gotten upset. Since then, he had dropped the subject verbally but seeing the downcast look in Ana's eyes made Michael wonder again what was bothering her. Maybe there was something he could do to cheer her up.

"Terry," Nicole said suddenly and Michael turned half his attention in their direction. "As interesting as I find this whole...discussion, why is it really going to matter whether or not I know how to kick a football?" She raised an eyebrow.

Terry frowned. "Well..." He searched for an answer. "You never know." He muttered finally, tossing the football into the air catching it. Nicole made a noncommittal noise and laid back down on her towel.

Watching Terry with the football gave Michael an idea; once, during one the times he and Ana had been talking, she had mentioned that she was a cheerleader for the football team in high school because football was the only sport she could stand to watch. Maybe their own impromptu game of football was just what Ana needed to cheer up; after all, it had worked for Terry and Nicole.

Michael headed over to where Terry and Nicole were sitting and knelt down beside them. "You guys up for a game of football?" He questioned with a smile on his face.

Nicole raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah, believe me, I know all about how to kick the ball now." She smiled at Terry, who just rolled his eyes. "Why do you want to play football?"

Michael looked over his shoulder at Ana. "Well, Ana's been feeling a little depressed lately so I figured a friendly game of football would help cheer her up." He explained.

It didn't take Terry long to see the parallels between Michael's idea and the one he had gotten a week ago to cheer Nicole up by playing a game of hockey. "Sure, but you need more then two people on each team." He pointed out.

"I'm sure Kenneth and Norma will be happy to play." Nicole suggested. "The others..." She looked over at Monica and trailed off, letting her point rest.

"You guys convince the others, and I'll convince Ana." Michael instructed. It wasn't the first time he had thought that getting Ana to play might be a bit of a challenge, but it was a challenge he was up to.

Nicole grumbled something about always being in charge of trying to force people to play their little impromptu games but it was a good-natured grumble and she leaned over and prodded the sleeping Monica.

Michael stood and headed over to where Ana was still concentrating on her magazine; she stared at a page for nearly a few five minutes before finally flipping it and he could tell that her attention was elsewhere. He said her name and tossed her the football when she looked up. "You wanna play?" Michael questioned with a crooked smile on his face.

"Not really." Ana tossed the ball back to him.

Michael frowned. "C'mon, it'll be fun." He prodded. "I've even got Nicole actually talking to Monica to ask if she wants to play."

Ana wasn't even amused by his attempted joke. "I don't feel like playing today." She muttered and looked back down at her magazine.

Michael's frowned deepened; whatever was bothering Ana was certainly worse then he had first thought. "Why not? It'll be fun." He repeated, giving her a forced, charming smile in hopes of convincing her.

Ana got to her feet so quickly that Michael stepped back, dropping her magazine into her chair. "I just don't want to play." She snapped and headed away from him and toward the door that led back into the mall.

Michael watched her disappear and started after her. "Where are you going?" Terry called to him and Michael tossed the ball in his direction without a word, following Ana back into the mall.

Ana hadn't had much of a head start on him so it was easy for him to find her once they were back in Metropolis. "Ana," he called and she stopped. "What's the matter?"

"I really don't feel like talking right now, Michael." Ana said without turning around.

Michael stood behind her, hoping that she would turn to face him so he could read the emotion on her face. But her back remained to him and so he finally said, "Well, maybe there's something I can do to help."

"There's nothing you can do." Ana muttered. "There's nothing anything can do." She started walking again, not seeming to look like she was going anywhere in particular, just away from him.

Michael started after her again. "You don't know that, Ana." He pointed out. "Just try me."

Ana whirled to face him and Michael stopped dead in his tracks. "Today is my wedding anniversary, all right? Will you leave me alone now?" She questioned, staring at him with the beautiful blue eyes that he had stared into some many times before. Only now there was nothing but anger and sorrow to look at.

Instantly, Michael felt like a complete ass; obviously, something very serious had been bothering her that she didn't want to talk about but he had forced her to do so anyway. And now he didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry." Was all that come up and even that sounded hollow and forced. "I didn't know."

"No, you didn't, but that was the point." Ana muttered. "But now you do, so know you can leave me alone." She started away from him again.

Michael followed her once again, deciding that it wasn't good for Ana to be alone when she was so upset. "How long were you two married?" He asked.

"Christ!" Ana grumbled. "What does it even matter? He's dead now and we're not married anymore."

Michael sighed. "It must be hard, to lose someone you love so suddenly." He said and Ana turned to face him again. "With all my divorces, I saw them coming, but that's still different."

Ana sighed as well. "Look, Michael, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I don't really want to talk about it, okay?"

"And there's nothing I can do you help?"

"Just go away." Ana sat down on one of the stools at Hallowed Grounds and buried her face in her hands. Losing Louis really had been sudden and her heart still hadn't dealt with the blow his death had caused her; there really was no good way to deal with a such a thing.

Michael sighed; she wasn't going to talk to him and it wasn't going to do either of them any good for him to keep pushing her about it. "Well, I'm here if you want to talk." He muttered and Ana was silent. He turned away and headed back toward the door which lead to the roof.

Every part of him was falling in love with Ana, in spite of everything that was going on around them, and he wanted more then anything to tell her how he felt. _But what good will that do? _Michael questioned as he started up toward the roof. _She's still grieving over her husband so she probably doesn't feel the same way. _When he returned to the roof, Michael saw that everyone had returned to what they were doing before, the football game abandoned.

Michael sat down in the chair Ana had vacated and closed his eyes, picturing her face in his mind. All he could see was how upset she had looked when he had continued to force her to talk about what she wanted to keep hidden; maybe he should have left her alone the first time. Maybe he never should have asked her in the first place. He sighed and thought about all the things he could have done, but that didn't do him any good because none of them were things he had actually done.

Ana heard Michael step away from her but she didn't bother to turn around to see whether or not he had left. A part of her really didn't want him to leave, didn't want to be alone but her heart still ached for Louis and that wasn't far to Michael.

It was difficult for her to try and keep herself together when all she wanted to do was fall apart. The weight of unraveling was heavy and Ana wondered just how much longer she was going to be able to keep herself whole. Not for much longer, if she had to guess, not alone. Maybe talking to Michael wasn't such a bad idea, maybe he could understand, help keep her in one piece.

"Michael?" Ana questioned, turning around, her mind made up to talk to him about whatever he wanted to hear. But he wasn't behind her anymore and she felt a pang run through her heart.

She was alone again.


End file.
